1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a process for identification of persons requesting access to particular facilities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Systems which allow authorized persons to have access to facilities either by means of a particular password or by means of a portable object, such as an identification or pass card, badge, key or the like, or possibly by means of both are well known. For example, reference may be made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,609,300, 3,748,441; 3,806,882; 3,868,057; 3,870,866; 3,906,460; 3,971,916; 4,007,355; 4,092,524; 4,102,493 and 4,105,156, which show various systems and devices for establishing access to a secured system through means of a portable identification card.
These systems have two major disadvantages. On the one hand, a facility must be informed if the authorization of a person is to be withdrawn since a person once given a password cannot be forced to forget his or her password. Further, once having been issued a pass card, or the like, that person has had the opportunity to copy or counterfeit his means of access to the facility. On the other hand, a cheat may, unbeknown to the authorized person, steal the password and/or copy or counterfeit the portable object, and these frauds cannot be detected with certainity.
The present invention enables these shortcomings to be eliminated, thanks to a portable object, such as an access card, which at the same time, is not reproducible, cannot be counterfeited and cannot be memorized. Under these circumstances it is possible to deprive a person of his or her authorization to a facility without actually informing the restricted facilities, simply by withdrawing or calling back his or her portable object. With an access card, a cheat must necessarily perform a physical theft of the card to gain access to the facility and this fraud may thus be detected.